Guided carriage means for flushing the interior of lengths of pipe



Jan. 10, 1950 c. G. ELLIG GUIDED CARRIAGE MEANS FOR FLUSHING THE INTERIOR 0F LENGTHS OF PIPE 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 10, 1945 R. m N m m ATTORNEYS Jan. 10, 1950 c. G. ELLIG 2,494,330

GUIDED CARRIAGE MEANS FOR FLUSHING THE INTERIOR 0F LENGTHS OF PIPE Filed Dec. 10, 1945 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG. 2. 34

INVENTOR. C. G. ELLIG ATTORNEYS Jan. 10, 1950 C. G. ELLIG GUIDED CARRIAGE MEANS FOR FLUSHING Filed D80. 10, 1945 2,494,380 THE INTERIOR 0F LENGTHS OF PIPE 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 r L (I h Q Q m 7 w 2 w E s 1 n "0 o 0 F5 In w E n mmvron. 6

C. G. ELLIG BY 2 ATTORNEYS Patented Jan. 10, 1950 GUIDED CARRIAGE M THE INTERIOR OF Carl G. Ellig,

EANS FOR FLUSHING LENGTHS OF PIPE Phillips, Tex., assignor to Phillips Petroleum Company, a corporation of Delaware Application December 10, 1945, Serial No. 634,052 2 Claims. (Cl. 134-168) This invention relates to devices for cleaning the insides of tubes. In a more specific aspect it relates to a device for cleaning oil well tubing in order to remove accumulation of paraflin and other deposits by means of brushing and washing with a chemical solution.

In other specific aspects it relates to cleaning serially a long row of pipes. It obviously relates to cleaning pipe while it is piled in a pipe rack without moving the pipe.

In numerous arts it is necessary to clean the inside of a large number of pipes. In the oil industry, in flowing and pumping wells, paraflin and salts such as gypsum tend to accumulate inside the tubing. Such accumulations reduce the effective size of the tubing and increase the expense of moving fluids therethrough. Because of this, it is necessary every now and then to pull the tube out of the well and clean it. When the tubing is pulled out of the well it is convenient to pile the tubing on a tubing rack or platform.

The present invention relates to a device for cleaning the tube while piled on such a platform without moving the tubing.

One object of the invention is to provide a moving platform with a reciprocating fountain brush whereby a large number of pipes may be cleaned serially without moving the pipes.

Another object is to provide means for supplying liquid to such a fountain brush.

Another object is to heat the liquid so supplied to increase its solvent action.

Another object is to provide a pipe cleaning de vice which is rugged and has a simple fool proof action, whichmay be constructed out of standard parts which are easily replaced and which simple and easy to operate.

Another object is to device.

Numerous other objects and advantages will be apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading provide a tube cleaning the accompanying specifications, drawings and claims.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a plan view of a tube cleaning device embodying the present invention with parts broken away.

Figure 2 is an elevational view with parts broken away and with parts in cross section of the structure shown in Figure 1. Figure 2 is taken along the line 2-2 in Figure 1 looking in the direction indicated by the arrows. It will be noted that Figure 2 is not a cross sectional view of Figure 1 because no portion of the machine is cut by line 22, however the ground is shown in cross section and a portion of tank 3| has been broken away of the electric power transmissionsystem employed with the device as shown in Figures 1 and 2.

Figure 4 is an elevational quarter-sawed enlarged view of the fountain brush 5'! shown in Figures 1 and 2.

The devices heretofore employed for cleaning oil well tubing and the like are slow and cumbersome, requiring an excessive expenditure of time and man power. The best of the so called portable cleaners available require 3 men for their operation, and they are not satisfactory from the standpoint of time and also thoroughness of cleaning. The present invention provides an apparatus with which one man, working all alone, can clean tubing faster and more thoroughly than is possible with the old 3 man portable cleaners.

Figure 1 shows a plan view of apparatus embodying the present invention as applied to the cleaning ofa row of pipes 4, stacked on any suitable pipe rack generally designated as 5. Pipe rack 5 may be built up in any manner desired, but is shown as consisting of old second hand pieces of pipe welded together, there being longitudinal members 6 and 1 and transfer members such as 8 supported on vertical members 9 (as shown in Figure 2).

The apparatus of Figure 1 comprises a cleaning unit generally designated as ID. The cleaning unit I0 is mounted for movement along a plurality of tracks ll, i2, I 3, I 4 and I5, which tracks extend transverse to the axis of tubes 4. Cleaning unit In is shown in Figure 2 as mounted for movement on tracks I I, l2, l3, II and IE on rollers l6, l1, l8, l9 and 20 respectively.

Obviously tracks II to I5 could be eliminated where the ground is smooth enough and rollers It to 20 could be rubber tired wheels. However, it is much easier to properly aline rails II to Hi than to try to smooth out the ground sufliciently for trackless operation, so tracks are generally preferred.

While I I to l 5 may be independently set in the ground it is preferred to cheapen the construction cost by welding rails II to IS in proper relation by means of spacing members 2|, '22, 23, 24, 25, 23, 21, and 28. These spacing members may be of any old scrap available and may be welded to the rails or tracks.

It may be seen that unit l may be moved down tracks II to l5 to clean each one of pipes 4 in turn, and in order to make this movement, a hand wheel 29 is provided which drives wheel I! by means of chain transmission 30.

Cleaning unit It comprises a liquid or chemical bath 3|, a chemical pump 32 driven by electric motor 33, and a pair of tracks 34 and 35 all of which are in fixed position relative to each other, but which move as unit In along the tracks H to l5.

Mounted on wheels on tracks 34 and 35 are two carriages 35 and 31 which support a steam cleaning pipe 38 and other equipement which will now be described.

On carriage 31 is a reversible electric motor 33 which drives through a gear reduction 40, wheels 4| and 42 moving carriage 31 back and forth along tracks 34 and 35 causing pipe 38 to travel in and out pies 4 which are being cleaned. Steam is supplied to pipe 38 from a sunken connection box 43 through steam-hose 44.

The liquid in 3 I, which is preferably a heated chemical cleaning solution, is pumped by pump 32 through pipe 45 into pipe 38. Pipe 45 is provided with an intermediate flexible hose section 43 (shown in the left hand portion of unit in Figure 1) to allow for movement of carriage 31.

Steam-hose 4'| communicates with and supplies steam to steam pipe 48 from which it passes into heating coil 48 in vat 3| to warm the liquid therein. While the end of pipe 49 may pass" out of vat 3| so that the steam will not mix with the liquid, in most instances it is preferred to have the steam coming out the end of pipe 45 and bubble up through the liquid in vat 3| as shown. A portion of the steam in hose 41 may be fed into pipe 45 through pipe 50 controlled by valve 5| if desired. Whether this is necessary depends largely on the character of liquid used in tank 3|, and if desired a number of by-passes such as 5|! may be spaced along between pipes 45 and 43 each with a valve similar to 5| in order to add steam at a plurality of points to pipe 45 to keep the liquid therein in constant agitation at relatively high temperature. However, in many instances pipe 55 is not necessary and valve 5| may remain closed.

Figure 2 shows additional details of the cleaning unit l0. Pipe'38 is guided by stands 52, 53, and 54 which may be adjusted as to height by wheels 55 which operate set screw clamp center support portion 55. Pipe 38 is slidably mounted in the support portion on head 55 of each of stands 52 and 53, and is clamped to head 56 of stand 54. Pipe 33 is preferably provided with a fountain brush 51 in order to get the maximum cleaning effect from the cleaning liquid in tank 3|. Any of the standard type fountain brushes may be employed, there are generally bristles 51A of wire or other stiff material on brush 51 which scrape material oil the inner surfaces of pipes 4 and there are generally a number of outwardly directed jets 51B on head 51 directing the liquid to impinge forcibly on the inside of pipe 4 to remove the matter encrusted thereon. Head 51 is not absolutely essential but is very much preferred as increasing the efilciency of the device. To further increasethe'efliciency of the device, alghnthe additional increase is not as large. it

is preferable to provide a swab or scratcher 53,

. or a number of the same, on pipe 38 behind fountain head 51. The function of swab '58 is to form a collar to prevent too rapid return of liquid from pipe 4 into vat 3| and to cause more of the liquid to move back into pipe 4 ahead of fountain brush 51 whereby some pre-treatment is afforded. Wires 51A may be radial and may be soldered or otherwise secured together at their base into a ring. Swab 58 is preferably fabric, such as second-hand canvas-base belting. The external structure shown originally in Figures 1 and 2 is preferred, and the internal construction shown in Figure 4 by amendment is merely one of many possible ways of assembly and is not claimed.

Pipes 4 are supported on rack 5 in a tilted position (which tilting is too slight to show in Figure 2). The tilting being sumcient to allow liquid to drain back out of pipe 4 into tank 3| upon the withdrawal of head 51. Preferably swab 58 is smaller than the interior of pipe 4 so that some liquid drains and passes swab 58 at all times.

When head 58 is withdrawn from one of pipes 4 the liquid therein drains back into tank 3|' carrying pieces of scale and paraffin and in order to prevent these pieces from being picked up by intake 59 of pump 32 a vertical screen 38 is provided traversing the entire interior of tank 3|. Because of difliculty of illustration, screen 60 has been shown on Figure 2 as a broken-away portion of a larger screen. If desired, a further filter or a screen intake may be provided on the end of intake 59 in tank 3| to prevent pump 32 from picking up solids which may pass through screen 68 or may drain out of pipes 4 on the wrong side of screen 50.

Most of such material drains out of pipe 4 as head 51 is withdrawn. Some liquid may pass through the other end of pipe 4 and be lost on the ground. If desired a trough may be provided at the far end of pipes 4 to collect liquid passing therethrough, which trough may be bailed out from time to time and the liquid replaced in tank 3|. However, it has been found that the amount of such lost liquid is, in most instances, small enough to be negligible and such a trough is not generally necessary. A certain amount of liquid is lost in the form of steam and a certain amount of liquid is collected by condensation of steam emerging from pipe 39 into vat 3|. So the amount of liquid in 3| is relatively constant and need not be made-up by addition of liquid except perhaps at long intervals of time.

While of course, motors 33 and 39 could be selfcontrolled internal combustion engines with independent supplies of fuel, it is preferred to use electric power which power could of course be supplied by batteries (not shown). Whenever commercial electric power is available it is preferred to use the same and it is preferred to employ the power transmission system shown.

In Figure 3 supporting poles 6| and 62 are placed at opposite ends of tracks H to l5 and between poles 6| and 62 a cross member 63 is provided which may be reinforced by guide wires or rods 64. Mounted adjacent the center portion of member 83 it is preferred to have cable reels 55 and 65. These cable reels are of a well known type employing a spring mechanism which always keeps the cables 51 and 68 wound upon the reels 65 and 88 as much as possible. As shown in Figure 2, this keeps cables 81 and 68 taut, keeping them oif the ground and out of the way. Cable 61 leads to a cable attachment post 59 and supplies nower to motor 33. Cable 68 leads to a similar supporting post 13 and supplies power to metor 39. On either or both of posts 69 and 13 suitable switches of other forms of a motor control 1| may be mounted at a position convenient to the operator. From control 1| a cable 12 may lead to motor 39; as a continuation of electric cable 68.

In Figure 3 the power comes in conduit 13 and branches out through conduits 14 and 15 to connect with cables 61 and 38 respectively on reels 65 and 68 by suitable brushes or other equipment (not shown).

Both of reels 65 and 36 may be provided with a swivel 16 to allow reels 65 and 63 to properly position themselves.

Carriage 36 is preferably connected to carriage 31 by a 10st motion connection such as chain 11.

the operation of which will be described later. For relatively short lengths of pipes 33 carriage 36 and related parts are unnecessary, but when pipe 38 is long it is preferred to have one or more carriages such as 36 to keep pipe 33 from buckling.

It will be noted in Figure 2 that motor reversing switch 1| which controls the direction of rotation of motor 39 and thereby the direction of travel of carriage 31, is provided with a reversing switch actuator 18. Frame It! has an upright element 19 rigidly secured thereto comprising a member 80 adapted and disposed to cooperate with reversing switch actuator 13 as will be described under the operation of the invention.

Operation From the foregoing discussion it is evident that only one operator is required. His duties are very light, since he has only to put unit Ill into proper position each time a new pipe 4 is to be cleaned by turning wheel 29 and to reverse switch 1| by resetting actuator 18 when the fountain brush 51 has reached the other end of the pipe 4 being cleaned. The uniform speed of pipe 33, which may be in the neighborhood of about 30 feet per While of course the invention may be applied.

to a wide range of sizes and while the positions and arrangement of parts may vary widely, in order to give a specific example for purposes of illustration a successful embodiment of this invention employs a vat 3i which is 32 inches high, 36 inches wide and 6 feet long, tracks ll, i2, l3, l4 and I5 being made from 3 inch by5 inch I beams and member 2| and like parts being 2 inch welded line pipe. Naturally any available material, new or secondhand, may be employed in constructing the device.

While many types of chemical mixtures or just water may be employed in tank 3i it is preferred to use about 5 pounds of any usual commercial pipe cleaning chemical to about 55 gallons of water. While a wide range of steam pressure values give useful results it is preferred to employ approximately 90 pounds steam pressure.

In operation, the vat 3| is filled with the chemical solution and unit illis positioned so that head 51 will enter the first pipe 4. Carriage or carriages 38 are spaced between carriage 31 and tank 3|, holding up pipe 33. Electric power is supplied through switch 1i energizing motor 33, steam is supplied through pipes 44 and 41 and motor 33 is started up actuating pump 32.

Carriage 31 travels to the left as seen in Figure 2 and carriage or carriages 53 travel or stay still depending upon friction conditions between pipe 33 and guide 53 as compared to the friction between carriage 53 and tracks 34. In either case pipe 33 is sufiiciently supported and in time chain 11 sags and carriage 31 closes up the space between it and carriage 36.

Fountain brush 51 has a scraping and jetting action on the deposits inside pipe 4 and chemical solutions from 3i pumped by pump 32 and heated by coil 43 and in some cases additional steam from pipe 59, has a solvent action on the material inside pipe 4. Some of the solution runs back past swab 58 into tank 3i because pipes 4 are resting on rack 5 at an angle allowing them to drain back into tank 3|.

When the operator judges brush 51 has reached the outer end of'pipe 4 (which he can easily do by knowing the average length of pipe 4 and painting footmarks on pipe 33) he will find switch 1| is near at hand so that he can operate reversing arm 13. Carriage 31 then proceeds to the right picking up chain 11 and picking up carriage 33, or carriages 33 as the case may be, as the lost motion in chain 11 is removed. This provides for support of pipe 38 so that no undue long portion thereof is ever unsupported.

When carriage 31 has withdrawn the head 51 from pipe 4 the liquid in pipe 4 runs into tank 31 carrying solid material therein. Screen 69 may be employed to prevent this solid material from being recirculated as such prevention is desirable. A member of element 19 reverses switch 11 by contact arm 13 while operator turns handwheel 29 the amount necessary to guide head 51 into the next pipe 4 and the operation is repeated.

Obviously formal changes may be made in the specific embodiments of the invention described without departing from the spirit and substance of the present invention, the scope of which is commensurate with the appended claims.

Having described my invention. I claim:

1. A pipe cleaning device comprising in combination a pipe rack constructed and disposed to support a plurality of parallel pipes in a substantially horizontal plane but with the longitudinal axes of said pipes sloping downward enough to permit gravity draining of liquid out of the same ends of said pipes, a first carriage constructed and disposed to move transversely of the longitudinal axes of said pipes adjacent said ends of said pipes, a tank mounted on said first carriage constructed and disposed to receive liquid draining by gravity from said ends of said pipes, a second carriage mounted on said first carriage and constructed and disposed to move on said first carriage along the longitudinal axis of any one of said pipes depending on the position of said first carriage, a pipe cleaning tool comprising a tube mounted on said second carriage and constructed and disposed to move with said second carriage and for one end to enter and be withdrawn from any one of said pipes depending on the position of said first carriage, a head having outwardly directed jet forming holes communicating with said tube mounted on said end of said tube, a collar of diameter suitable to enter said pipes mounted on said tube adjacent said head. means mounted on said first carriage adjacent said ends of said pipe dispwed to position and guide said tube in its movements, means to pump liquid from said tank into said tube,

means to drive said first carriage in said movements and means to drive said second carriage in said movements.

2. A pipe cleaning device comprising in combination a pipe rack constructed and disposed to support a plurality of parallel pipes in a substantially horizontal plane but with the longitudinal axes of said pipes sloping downward enough to permit gravity draining of liquid out of the same ends of said pipes, a first carriage constructed and disposed to move transversely of the longitudinal axes of said pipes adjacent said ends of said pipes, a tank mounted on said first carriage constructed and disposed to receive liquid draining by gravity from saidends of said pipes, a second carriage mounted on said first carriage and constructed and disposed to move on said first carriage along the longitudinal axis of any one of said pipes depending on the position of said first carriage, a pipe cleaning tool comprising a tube mounted on said second carriage and constructed and disposed to move with said second carriage and for one end to enter and be withdrawn from any one of said pipes depending on the position of said first carriage, a head having outwardly directed jet forming holes communicating with said tube mounted on said end of said tube, means mounted on said first carriage adjacent said ends of said pipe disposed to position and guide said tube in its movements, means to pump liquid from said tank into said tube, means to drive said first carriage in said movements and means to drive said sec-- ond carriage in said movements.

C. G. EILIG.

REFERENCES orrnn The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 620,224 Bubser Feb. 28, 1899 672,296 St. John Apr. 16, 1901 728,287 Pehl May 19, 1903 949,622 Cragin "1--..-- Feb. 15, 1910 1,014,333 Saeger Jan. 9, 1912 1,721,444 Habel July 16, 1929 1,729,781 Holmes Oct. 1, 1929 2,018,757 Butterworth Oct. 29, 1935 2,152,036 Froh Mar. 28, 1939 2,285,298 Morrison June 2, 1942 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 11,393 Austria Apr. 10, 1903 

